Blowout for Banff Rugby against Calgary in home opener

The Banff Rugby Club Bears (BRC) beat the Calgary Rugby Union Rams/Saints in a sweeping 55-12 this weekend. It was the first home victory of the season on Saturday afternoon at the Banff Recreation Grounds. The Bears opened the game strong, scoring a try in minutes.

“What I really liked the most about today’s performance was the interchanging. It was flawless,” said BRC President and player Mark Hooper. “We didn’t have a big bench purely because of our situation again, but we had three replacements, and they’re not even replacements because the changes were so smooth and flawless. It was more of an impact bench – fresh legs coming on, no one missed a beat.”

Despite the ongoing roster concerns the club has faced, Hooper said that it was a consistent home game.

“We don’t need one superstar and a bunch of extra players, he said. “We need a squad of guys, 20-22 guys, that don’t miss a beat when they come on the pitch and that’s exactly what we had today.”

The new, younger players have been dedicated through training over the last weeks “come hell or high water,” he said.

The Rams were a bigger team of players who like to slow the game down, Hooper said. The Bears aren’t as large but they are playing their game this season.

“For us at training, we are working harder on fitness. We’re working on our conditioning.”

“We want to run these teams around,” he added.

The Bears will be where the bigger bodies are – the scrums, the rucks, the mauls, the breakdowns – but when it is time to flow, Hooper said, they play their game. The Saturday game tested whether the Bears could stick to the game plan. While they did for the majority of the time, Hooper said that it was the one big performance flaw.

“We kind of got a little carried away, trying to do a little too much sometimes when we should just be playing the field,” he said. “But these aren’t great big problems, these are lots of little problems we can tweak along the way.”

This year, there are six born and raised Banff locals on the team. Hooper said that some of them were the standout players against the Rams Saturday.

“A big, big shout-out to the young boys, Andre and Duncan – Banff Community High School alumni. It was both their first games today. ”

Hooper added that their commitment has been strong from day one even though men’s rugby culture can be intimidating.

“They were fearless,” Hooper said. “I’ve got nothing but love and respect for those boys.”

The BRC Bears are set to play the Calgary Knights next on June 16, at 1:45 p.m in Banff and Hooper said he’s excited.